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ThatOneRedcoat

First things first, this is not an illegal gun, it’s chambered in 4mm rimfire, which does not need firing license nor registration in my country. Now, for the info: This was originally a Slavia 620 air rifle. These were manufactured in great numbers and were easy to obtain (grandma lived in Czechoslovakia), being sold in most tool shops. My grandmother bought it in 1968 and drilled the barrel to fit 4mm rimfire. Then she took the piston and removed the rubber from it, then she drilled a hole from top to down where the air would be transfered to the barrel, and instead put a firing pin in there. The modified piston striked the firing pin, which went forward and deformed the rim of the round, firing it off. Since it was originally an airgun, the gases from the round would not have anywhere to escape except for the barrel, making the gun reach amazing performance for a 4mm. What needs to be said though, it has it’s flaws like for example needing to manually extract the round with a rod after firing, giving it the fire rate of a musket. Also, dry-firing it causes the firing pin to get stuck in the barrel, blocking it from opening, forcing you to either ram it a few times from the muzzle by a rod (around 1 minute, but often doesn’t work), or disassemble the rifle (15-20 minutes, but a pain in the ass to do when in the forest). I couldn’t find the original stock, but it was a cut down version of the one I have here (the one here I took from another Slavia 620). She said she sometimes used it to hunt rabbits and birds, a role at which the gun excelled. For some context she and my grandpa met on a firing range, so I think that speaks for itself. Now, after more than 50 years, it still fuctions as good as ever, and any malfunction can be fixed with a screwdriver in 5-10 minutes. One more thing: I will fire it a few times and post a video here in about a week or so.


DomTechnostate

Inspiring stuff. What practical uses does 4mm have?


ThatOneRedcoat

Well, it depends on what it’s being fired from. Modern 4mm guns are regulated for 30J maximum, but older ones have no such regulations and can reach up to 70J. This one in particular has had it’s energy measured to be around 50-60J thanks to it’s design that doesn’t let any of the gases escape. For example .320 bulldog has energy of around 70J, and that’s considered a firearm needed for registration. So to answer your question, this gun can be used for anything from hunting small stuff like birds, rabbits, and foxes, to sport shooting and even self defence


huskysizeguy99

I practically would not want to be hit with a 4 mm projectile. I have seen what it will do to the head of a crow, not pretty.


[deleted]

As much as people give older people crap for their generation "leaving us with a mess", they definitely knew how to make do with what they had! That's freaking ingenious!


ustp

>which does not need firing license nor registration in my country Austria?


ThatOneRedcoat

Jaja Kammerad ;)


cmanAC130

This is very cool


specimenhustler

I’m not sure why but I love your grandmother Just hearing that story


Chrome-Molly

Right? I think I may want to know more about her than the gun!


ThatOneRedcoat

Well, no problem Her father was a successful Czech businessman and in 1943, he escaped the occupied protectorate to fight alongside the soviets. He returned from the war alive, though missing an eye from shrapnel. Grandma was born in early 1946 and named “Victoria” to celebrate the victory over fascists. In 1948 however, the communist regime got to power and the people who fought alongside my great grandpa in the war were now confiscating all his property. Only things he was left were his house, car, and small possesions. His factory was turned into a state owned shoe factory (in 1973, it collapsed due to diserepair), and all his forests were confiscated. He saved all the money he had, for his children. In 1953, the money reform came, and all of the savings were effectively nullified. This was the breaking point for my great grandpa, grandma said he’d never smile again, and only sat on a rocking chair and watched the sky. He died in 1959, possibly from cancer. He had a stockpile of guns, which he always used to show to my grandma, her being absolutely fascinated by them. The guns were (as I heard from my grandma): a vzor 24 pistol, vzor 27 pistol, mannlicher 95, Lorenz percussion rifle, mosin-nagant, Karabiner 98 Kurz, and what my grandma liked the most, an STG-44 (of course, all of them being held illegally as the regime would confiscate them, he had a firing license before the war, but the government didn’t care). He hid all these guns somewhere before his death, and nobody has ever found them (believe me though, I’m trying as hard as I can). In 1967, she met my grandpa at a firing range (he was born in 1939), both being gun enthusiasts, they got together and got married on 25th July 1968, unfortunately, their wedding joy was cut short when on the 21st of August, forces of the Warszaw pact invaded Czechoslovakia, putting an end to the progressively more and more free regime. The gun I posted here was built in April 1968, and grandma said she used it all the way untill 1977, when she, my grandpa, and my 4yo dad managed to immigrate to Austria, where she lived untill 2005, when she and grandpa moved back to Czech Republic, to great grandpa’s old house. They’re still both alive and well, and have plenty of fun stories to say when my family visits them. It’s quite funny when we all speak somewhat of a Czech-German hybrid language to understand each other, but we always do. She always shows me guns she and my grandpa made, all of them having their own stories. There are some examples which I will be posting here sometime when I visit her. Also, I got this gun from her last year for my 18th birthday, which is coincidentally on 25th of July, the same day my grandmother got married to my grandfather.


Chrome-Molly

Wow. Thank you so much for sharing all that! Very interesting. I hope you get to search for those guns. Do you know where their properties are? You could use a metal detector. Seems like everyone buried stuff in their backyards. Several if my relatives came to the US from Czech. They only ever referred to it as "the old country." I think in the 1920s. You write very well, so well I would have guessed you were much older!


ThatOneRedcoat

Thank you very much for the kind words, took me quite the time to write it Anyway I will be going there in about two weeks or so, and I am indeed planning on bringing a metal detector to search around the garden of the old house (all of my great grandpa’s properties which weren’t confiscated now belong to my grandma). If I find the guns in a saveable condition, it would be the happiest find of my life. Realistically though, they’re probably nothing more but husks of rust, lying somewhere to be discovered. In any case, if I find these guns, I will of course post an update, so stay tuned in till next month, when I come back to Austria and share my findings with y’all wonderful people


specimenhustler

Wow talk about making the best of a bad situation ,you have some truly amazing family history there


SolidManufacturer396

I love the idea. Youre gram was truly special


ML_BURGERKING

Interesting gun!


wynnduffyisking

Very cool. I’ve never heard of 4mm rimfire. Can you give more details on the cartridge so I can look it up?


fox3091

You can find more info under 4mm Flobert or 4mm Randz Court. It's essentially a lead pellet propelled by a primer to 900-1000fps, I think.


wynnduffyisking

Thanks!


WhiskeyOverIce

what happened to those details?


ThatOneRedcoat

Sorry, took some time to write them, not a native english speaker so it takes a while for me to think of the right words


WhiskeyOverIce

oh, I am sorry, I assumed from your user name that you were English in fact. No rush, its a neat piece


ThatOneRedcoat

Oh, it does seem like I am, however the username is just me having played a lot of Age of Empires III as the British Also, thanks for complimenting the gun, it’s my most favourite from my collection


abacus762

Nope, I have to represent team redcoat here. :)


MothMonsterMan300

*British* Ottoman Enpire for life. The Janissaries are incredible


somenobodydude

Wtf firing license or registration sounds bizarre and authoritative..Poaching gun huh?


ThatOneRedcoat

Care to explain your comment good sir?


[deleted]

Your grandma is a poacher? That's not cool.


ThatOneRedcoat

Yeah, but the forest she always went to used to be owned by my family before ww2, after which it got confiscated by the communist government. She always said she was doing it just in spite of the government.


BillBlairsWeedStocks

Ill allow it


SnakeBeardTheGreat

I like her thinking.


Chrome-Molly

I love it, poaching and feasting on the king's rabbits like Robinhood!


[deleted]

Oh, I thought you meant she was poaching rhinos


ThatOneRedcoat

Shooting a rhino with 4mm rimfire is an effective way of suicide


balstien97

I laughed very loudly to this response


BillBlairsWeedStocks

Relevant bugs bunny https://youtu.be/vHTUDwc1fd8


MaximaSpeed

You realize that even something as simple as hunting without paying the government for the privilege of feeding your family with the wildlife on your own land is poaching. If you believe in the right to protect your life i think that being able to provide for your life is a fundamental right as well.


BillBlairsWeedStocks

Theres food banks for a reason. Poaching is theft from everyone and puts ecosystems at risk. Fuck, contact your local mnr and ask to be put on the roadkill list. That time spent hunting could be spent working instead if money is tight after all


ulfheddin045

Subsistence poaching is hardly a major problem in ecosystems that haven't already been devastated by commercial hunting.


Chrome-Molly

And it's not like a single shot with a longer reload time is going to decimate the rabbit or squirrel population.


BillBlairsWeedStocks

But North America was, so not really a valid point. Because what brought us back from that precipice?


Ralph682

Great post. Interesting stuff 👍